Tale As Old As Time
by TheCivilState
Summary: He pushed her to her breaking point, then shoved her off the edge.  He never imagined it would kill her.  Kol/OC


_Can you make it feel like home if I tell you you're mine?_

"I wasn't expecting to see you so soon," Violet remarked from where she sat in the upper limbs of the tree she had climbed. Kol stood below her, gazing up and rather enjoying the view she was providing.

"What can I say," he said, "When a sexy woman sticks it to me, it's so hard to stay away." Even in the dimness of the twilight hour he could see her roll her eyes. Violet was, terribly enough, predictable when she wanted to be.

"So, are you going to come down, or should I come up?"

"I'll shove a branch through your heart and I won't miss this time." He winced for affect, knowing she was watching him. He could feel her eyes running over his skin as though they were hands taking hold of him. If she suddenly imagined strangling him, he wondered if he would feel it.

"Then jump." Violet looked down at him, her legs dangling in the open air below the safety of the limb she was perched on. She could drop, but there was no guarantee Kol would catch her. Knowing him, he'd let her fall and break her legs and then laugh until she healed and drove a stake through his heart. What a wonderful relationship they had.

"Sorry," she said, "But you're no Finn."

"You're just moving through my brothers, aren't you?" Violet descended from the tree faster than Kol expected and his brows rose as she stood nose to nose with him. He waited for something to be stabbed into him like one stabbed a needle into a pincushion. But it never came.

"Have a drink with me?" Kol accepted.

_Keep making me laugh, let's go get high_

"Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall," Violet sang, "Take one down, chug it down."

"What happened to pass it around?" Kol asked, "That was always the best part." Violet eyed him over the rim of her glass and shook her head.

"Like I would share my liquor with you?" He winked at her and gestured to the stash on display behind the bar.

"It's actually not yours," he said, "But rather it belongs to the grill." Violet briefly wondered if Elena would be very upset if she killed Kol. Elijah had politely informed her that the Petrova doppleganger was unreasonably attached to an obscene amount of people. People who, under no circumstances, were allowed to be harmed. Certainly Kol wasn't on that list?

"Stop plotting my murder," he said as he knocked back another drink.

"How do you know I'm planning your murder?" she protested and he reached out and flicked her nose. She snapped at him like the animal she was.

"I can hear you thinking," he whisper conspiratorially, tapping his ear before signaling the bartender for another round. Violet nursed her beer and watched him fly through his sixteenth drink. She was keeping count. She always kept count when it came to Kol.

"Stop being so depressing," he commanded and when she didn't comply, he invaded her personal space, eyes locking with hers.

"Are you going to compel me?" she drawled lazily, thinking he might make her forget something useful. Like Finn. Finn who had accidentally made Violet forget his existence. By the time Rose explained that Finn was very fond of Violet, he had been daggered and sealed in a coffin somewhere and Klaus wasn't about to tell her where. Elijah had done his best to break the compulsion on her, but there was only so much he could do. All she was left with was a memory of jumping out of a tree and Finn being the one to catch her.

"When have I ever compelled you?" Kol drunkenly asked and when Violet's eyes grew dark, he slid away from her and tried to gloss over the matter. They never spoke of her time as a human. She didn't like being reminded of a time when she was so weak and Kol, well… come to think of it…

"Why don't we ever talk about it?" she asked and Kol paused in his drinking to carefully regard her.

"Talk about what?"

"The time I was human. I know what I don't like to talk about it, but why don't you bring it up?" Kol swished the amber liquid in his glass, wondering if he could compel her without causing a scene. It wouldn't be a dramatic compulsion, just enough to make her forget the last five minutes and go back to signing a ridiculous song about beer bottles on the wall. But if Kol were honest with himself, which he rarely was, he knew he wouldn't stop with just compelling away five minutes of her memory. He would ruin years of her life, leaving them filled with empty spaces devoid of memory. He would erase himself, erase his family, and give her the strictest of orders to go someplace warm and get a tan. So he didn't compel her.

"You don't talk about it, I don't talk about it," he casually said, "That's why we get along so well." She mulled over his words, not believing for an instant he was being honest. Kol could hear her thinking like she could hear him lie.

"I wonder if Finn would restore my memories," she offhandedly remarked, "It'd be nice to remember him. Apparently we got along."

"Oh yes," Kol said with a hint of bitterness, "Finn was very fond of you. Very fond. Threatened to rip out my heart- and Klaus'- should we so much as touch you." He winked at her and gave her a teasing smirk. "That worked out well, didn't it?"

Violet threw the remainder of her drink in his face and was out of the bar before he managed to wipe the beer out of his eyes.

_You like your girls insane_

"Stop being so melodramatic," Kol called up to her as she stood teetering on the edge of some bridge called Wickery. Her shoes and jacket were piled on the road and her toes curled around the ledge she now stood on.

"It's not like I'm going to die," she said, "You took care of that for me a long time ago."

"Is that what this is about?" he asked, leaning against the ledge close enough that he could reach out and stroke her calf. The muscles jumped at his touched. _Old habits,_ he thought ruefully.

"You killed me and then you left," she said, coming to balance on one foot, "I came back to you when I was human, yet the minute I was a vampire, I couldn't find you. You were gone. You never looked for me and when I finally found you, you couldn't even remember my name." He had to admit it was a bit of a dick move on his part, using her as his toy when she was human because she always came back to him and then forgetting her name. But in his defense, nine hundred years was a long time to remember a girl's name when you were busy killing and shacking up with other women.

"You're mad at me for not looking for you? God Vi, I didn't think you could be so clingy." She pivoted to look down at him, shaking his hand away from her leg. Her gray eyes were almost white in the darkness and for the first time in nine hundred years, Kol believed she would cry.

"I looked for you," she said, "Nine hundred years I looked for you. And when I finally found you, you didn't even remember my name."

"Vi-"

She stepped off the ledge before he could finish saying her name. He was at the river's edge when her body hit the water, but she never resurfaced. She came up for air a few miles down the river and walked home. She didn't know Kol spent the remainder of the night looking for her.

_The road is long, we carry_ _So we should have fun in the meantime_

"If Kol catches us, he'll try to kill you." Kol chose that moment to enter the living room only to find Klaus and Violet covered in paints drawing patterns on their skin and on the canvas spread on the floor. On the couch sat his brother's latest obsession, some blonde girl named Caroline. She was watching the two amusedly, but the smile fell from her face when she noticed him standing in the doorway. Klaus noted her reaction and turned, eyes narrowing at his brother as he stepped in between Kol and the girls.

"Brother," Klaus greeted, "We were just painting, care to join us?" Kol stepped closer and the malevolent force he exuded began to pulse forcing Violet back towards Caroline who was recognizing an underlying gravity to the situation she had walked in on.

"I think I'm going to go," the blonde said, smiling politely at Violet and lightly touching Klaus' shoulder before zipping out of sight. Kol watched her leave before focusing his attention on Violet.

"You really are a glutton for punishment," he taunted, "I thought I told you Klaus had someone else to warm his bed and that you need not apply. Desperate, are you?" He saw the attack before it came and easily caught Klaus by the neck and threw him into the banister. Violet made to run, but Kol caught her and pinned onto the canvas she had been painting, the paints soaking into his knees as he kept her steady. But Klaus was there, as he always was, before Kol could cause too much damage. He hefted his baby brother into the drove his hand through his back, grabbing his spin. Violet rose and before either Original could protest, she grasped Kol's head and twisted it violently to the side effectively snapping his neck. Klaus dropped his temporarily dead brother to the ground.

"I've been waiting nine hundred years to do that," she remarked as she stared down at Kol's prone body. Klaus touched her shoulder and her eyes flickered up to meet his.

"Did I ever apologize?" he asked and watched the grin spread over her face.

"I think Caroline is rubbing off on you," she said.

"I don't think that's bad." She shook her head.

"It's not. I like her. You should go check on her though. I think we might have scared her." Klaus nodded, feet already carrying him towards the door, but he stopped to look back at Kol.

"He'll be upset when he wakes up." Violet shrugged and fell back onto the couch, paint sticking to the leather upholstery. He really couldn't care.

"I'd say the worst he can do is kill me, but he's already done that."

_Sometimes love is not enough when the road gets tough_ _I don't know why_

Kol awoke with a groan that died quickly when his most recent memories came flooding back. Anger set in and he opened his eyes to see Violet stretched out on the couch watching him carefully. He had her head in a vice grip before she could react and was ready to rip her head off when she shoved a piece of the broken banister into his wrist and pulled herself away.

"What's wrong with you!" she demanded, voice ringing in the empty house. Kol ran for her, but she disappeared only to halt on the staircase, warily watching him as he stopped in the foyer below.

"Wrong with me?" he sneered, "What's wrong with you! You lose the attention of one brother so you have to go to another? You're even more desperate than Tatia and Katerina!" She threw the piece of banister still in her hand at him, but he caught it long before it made contact. She sprinted up the stairs and disappeared down the all towards Finn's room. Kol caught her halfway and pinned her to the ground.

"Your protector isn't here this time," he said, "He's never been here when you needed him the most." She shoved at him with all her strength, but Kol would always be stronger. Human or vampire, she would always be the weaker of the two.

"Let me go," she demanded, trying to break a hold that only tightened the more she struggled.

"You're not the same Violet I knew," he said, "She was smart and knew her place. She knew how to act and played nicely."

"I'm touched," Violet said, "After nine hundred years you've forgotten my name, but at least you remember how good I was in bed. At least you remember that I always spent the night with Klaus before coming to you." He threw her with enough force that she went crashing through the wall and impaled her leg on a broken beam. She tried to pull it out, but Kol was there, the way he always was, driving it deeper into her thigh and causing her more pain.

"And why was that," Kol hissed, "Why did you always come to me last? Was my brother so bad in bed that you had to erase his memory with memories of me?" Violet growled at him and pulled the beam from her leg, trying to stab in him the neck, but he saw it coming and flipped her over and send her flying through the air. She caught herself against the dress, the glass of the mirror shattering at the impact and a few nicknacks were dislodged.

"Why?" Kol demanded, his anger mounting, "What did I have my brother didn't?" When she didn't answer, he ran his hand through her chest and clutched at her heart. Violet's eyes went wide and she stumbled into him.

"I," she gasped and he could feel her lungs rise around his hand, "I wanted you to fight for me."

Kol stepped back, releasing her and watching as she fell to the floor before him. She clutched at her chest, willing it to heal faster as she inhaled unnecessarily in order to calm herself. Violet maintained human characteristics Kol was unable to understand, characteristics that reminded him of Finn. Finn the moral. Finn the noble. Finn the favorite of their mother. Finn who understood Violet and had her love. Finn. It was always Finn or Klaus or Elijah. It was never Kol.

"I wanted you to fight for me," Violet said again as the hole in her chest healed, "Not once were you jealous. Not once did you challenge Klaus and try to claim me as your own. I went to you second every night because I didn't want to wake up with Klaus' bloody kisses and bruises all over my body. If I was going to remember anyone when I awoke, I wanted it to be you."

He stumbled backwards. The great and mighty Original stumbled backwards and fell into the bed, gripping at the headboard for support. Violet leaned backwards into the dresser and stared at him.

"I don't understand," he said and Violet looked pained. More pained than when he almost ripped out her heart. He didn't understand it. Didn't understand her. And when he thought about it, he realized he'd never understood her.

"You've never played the fool before," she said, "Please don't start now." He continued to stare at her, his eyes and body unmoving as he turned into the eternal statue. Violet's eyes closed as her hands rubbed at the almost healed hole in her chest.

"I don't know why," she said, "All I know is that I never wanted Klaus. All I ever wanted was you. I wanted you to fight for me and you never did." She laughed, a bitter, hollow thing and stared down at her hands. There, on her ring finger, left hand, was the woven metal ring he had given her almost a millennium ago.

"That's a lie," she whispered, "You held my hand when you gave me this ring and then you kissed me cheek. I'd never seen you act like that with anyone else and I just knew I had to mean something to you. I knew I had to be different." She looked up at him, the eternal statue, and tried to smile.

"Tell me I'm different," she begged, "Tell me you didn't forget my name, that it was all a joke and things will be different this time. Tell me you want me, that you'll fight for me. Please, just say the words and I'll be yours forever."

Kol couldn't say the words. He couldn't formulate a proper response, so he was forced to watch her rise to unsteady feet and head towards the hole in the wall he had created with her body. He was the violent and sadistic brother, but he'd never been this violent with one person before. It was like he was trying to break her. Like he was trying to destroy every think good about her and mold her into a monster the same as him. For a while he thought he had succeeded, but now, with Violet's gray eyes filled with tears and her footsteps taking her away from him, he realized he had failed. She was painted like a villain the way one paints a house, but at her core, her foundations were still good. She was every bit as moral as Finn. Kol had failed.

"No!" he roared at her back, grabbing her and spinning her around in his arms. He wasn't going to let her walk away. He couldn't let her go and if he was honest, it had nothing to do with him failing to turn her into a monster. Rather, it had everything to do with the goodness he hadn't managed to destroy.

Violet's eyes went wide and there was a sickening gasp that fell from her lips. Her hands rose and clutched at the space near her heart and Kol's eyes dropped to see a wooden beam from the demolished wall protruding from her chest.

"Kol." His name fell from her lips like a prayer. He only wished he was a saint so he could grant it.

_Choose your last words, this is the last time_

"Shh, shh. You'll be alright," he promised for the eighth time in the span of five minutes. Violet was keeping track as he broke the wooden beam and lowered her carefully to the floor. The counting was taking her mind off the fact there was a wooden stake protruding from her chest, one that was dangerously close to piercing her heart. She could almost feel herself turning blue and decaying.

"It-" She wanted to say it hurt like hell, that it was all his fault and he should hurry up and pull the damned thing out, but any movement or speaking on her part caused the beam to shift even more uncomfortable close to her heart. Any closer and she'd be able to feel the grain of the wood pressed against her most valuable organ, one that was almost quivering in fear of her rapidly approaching demise.

"You'll be alright," Kol promised again, brushing her hair away from her face. He couldn't think of anything else to say in this moment as he debated the best possibly approach to removing the wooden beam. Violet's eyes tracked his movements carefully and she so desperately wished she could speak. That she could breathe and yell at him and tell him to just end it. End the suffering, the misery, the pain he had been inflicting on her for the last nine hundred years. _Just end it._

"I never forgot your name," Kol admitted, finger gingerly dancing around the wound. There wasn't a chance in the world he'd be able to remove it without killing her and that thought was horrendous.

"I never forgot your name," he said again, focusing on her face now because it was less painful to look at her than look at the weapon that was killing her. Her eyes called him a liar.

"I didn't," he swore, "I never forgot your name. I never forgot you or how I broke your neck or how cruel I was to you. While I was running from Klaus, those memories were my constant companion. I never forgot you. It was just easier in the moment to hope that you had forgotten me. But you hadn't. A vampire never forgets and I was stupid of me to think you would."

She bit her lip until it bled and Kol was reminded of the similar situation that had started it all. Gently, he hovered his mouth above hers and flicked his tongue out to taste her blood, _once, twice, three _times before finally dropping his mouth to hers. He caught her lower lip between his and linked away the wound she had inflicted upon herself centuries ago. He licked her lips and kissed them and licked them again hoping to memorize the taste. Violet gasped into his mouth, but that gasp quickly turned to a strangled cry of pain and he pulled again, eyes darting to the wooden beam sticking from her chest before forcing his eyes to return to her face. Her eyes were paling and she no longer cared if she cried in front of him. She cried even more when his fingers brushed away the tears trailing down her cheeks. Tears that not only belonged to him, but to her as well.

"I'm sorry." His voice cracked and she watched a tear fall from his chin and felt it land on her cheek, "I'm so sorry. I'm a monster for hurting you the way I did."

She wanted to agree. She wanted to say he was a monster, but that he was a monster who had apologized, so there was something worth saving in him. She wanted to take his hand and hold onto him and will away the last nine hundred years. She wanted them to be different people. But then, she realized, he wouldn't be the monster she had fallen in love with. How Beauty and the Beast of them.

"I would make everything up to you," he said, "I'd have Finn teach me how to be good and I'd make it up to you. I would spend forever making it up to you." Her hand reached up and she bit her lip in two as she swallowed the scream that erupted from the pain. He caught her hand and let her rest it against his chest. She wanted to touch is face one last time, but if she reached anything further, she knew she would die. It was like being a demon and reaching for God, for salvation, but knowing you'd be consumed by flames if you reached too far.

"You. are. good," she forced out, crying as the pain became too much to handle. She wanted it to stop. It had to stop. Kol pressed a rough kiss to her forehead and she could feel him sob into her hair. He was the sadistic, violent brother who had never learned to play nice with others. They were the children of the night who had never grown up. And now Fate decided they were going to be cruelly forced into adulthood where consequences were real and things mattered. They were children who felt too much for their bodies to handle.

"Don't go," he begged, "I know I'm the one who did the leaving, but I'm asking you to stay with me this time. I'll fight for you forever, just stay with me. I'm begging you to stay."

She inhaled, a horrible human habit she had never broken and now it would be her undoing. Kol heard her sharp intake and his hand came to rest on the wooden beam that was ruining everything. It was small, less than six inches long, and yet it was destroying a nine hundred year old creature.

_No, _he corrected himself, _It was destroying a nine hundred year old woman. It was destroying Violet. It was killing the woman he loved._

"Please," she beg, nearly biting her tongue in half as she tried to remind herself not to breathe. The wood was beginning to press painfully into her heart and it wasn't long before it sliced at the muscle and she was done for. Nine hundred years as a vampire and this death seemed much more definite than the first time.

Kol understood what she was asking and wrapped his hand as delicately as he could around the wooden beam. He wanted to kiss her the way she deserved to be kiss. He wanted to be an idealist and a romantic and believe the fairytales where True Love's Kiss conquered all things. He wanted to kiss her and erase every wrong her had ever committed towards her. But no kiss was like that and with her bloodied lip torn in two, kissing her now would only cause her pain. So instead, he pressed a kiss to her throat, to the side of her neck, and lastly to her cheek; the same cheek he had kissed nine hundred years earlier when he gave her the ring she still wore. If only he hadn't been a blind fool and noticed that sooner. Things would've been different.

"I'm sorry," he whispered against pale skin slick with tears.

"I forgive you."

He pulled the beam from her chest and she screamed as it sliced through her heart. He kissed her face as much as he could and apologized so much that his words became an incoherent blur.

It didn't matter though. Within seconds she was gone, her hand still clutching her chest and his tears drying on her cheeks.

_You and I_ _We were born to die_

**a/n: **This is where people on Tumblr showed up and said, "Kiolet, I ship it. Why did you have to kill her!" And now they want me to bring her back. Anyone know how to resurrect a vampire?

Fave, flame, faint.

_[song fic inspired by "Born To Die" by Lana Del Rey]_

_oxox._


End file.
